Good Love Lingers On
by Writing Desk's Raven
Summary: This girl's always had a rough life. She wasn't born into the best family - a cruel Hydra agent for a mother and some rogue shape-shifter for a father. But she takes what she can get from life. Things are always changing, though. How could they not, for a girl whose blood sings for change? But maybe, just maybe, she can hold on to the good in her life this t...(Full Summary Inside)
1. Summary

**Good Love Lingers On**

_Writing Desk's Raven_

* * *

_Full Summary:_

This girl's always had a rough life. She wasn't born into the best family - a cruel Hydra agent for a mother and some rogue shape-shifter for a father. But she takes what she can get from life, and if that means she does every little thing Hydra tells her to do, or face their wrathful punishment, she'll do it. If that means she's kidnapped from a Hydra base in Siberia, she'll stick with her kidnapper for the ride. And if it means she gains a new family, hell, she'd settle for just a friend or two. Things are always changing, though. How could they not, for a girl whose very blood sings for change? But maybe, just maybe, she can hold on to the good in her life this time. After all, good love lingers on.

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_Teaser Quote:_

She took a step closer to him, lifting herself onto the tips of her toes, and slid her fingers through the belt loops of his jeans. She leaned in to whisper in his ear, "The bad guys will still be there in an hour or two, Spiderman."

He stared at her, eyes wide, as she settled back down to her normal height, smiling mischievously at him. "You- you- you-" He kept repeating the word, like a broken record.

"Yes." She said teasingly. "Me."

That seemed to break him out of his stupor. "You know." He said.

"I do." She answered.

* * *

****Credit for Title goes to _ARCHIS_, I got the name for this fic while scrolling through my iTunes library, just after I wrote most of the summary. (ARCHIS only has, like, five songs, you should go check them out, they're pretty good. Dia Frampton, of course, has an amazing voice, and I love her.)****

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**Hey, y'all! I'm trying this new thing called writing as I go, and in chronological (for the most part) order. With the More Than What You May Think series (actually my first fanfiction ever, which is why it's so terrible), I'd written all of that before I posted it the first time, and I posted each story all at once. That was a couple years ago, three or so, at this point. When I created this account, I moved them over with me, but with an updating schedule, because why not. I'm gonna try things a little differently with this story, but I can't promise it'll go well. I should have good amounts of time for writing, though, given that it's summer now and I don't have to worry about senior year until summer starts back up again.**

**So, hey, drop a review and let me know what you think about this story idea! I've had it for awhile now, and I've fleshed out a good amount of plans and written a couple scenes here and there, now all I've gotta do is actually write the damn thing. Hope y'all enjoy.**


	2. Prologue: Operation Mirage

**Good Love Lingers On**

Writing Desk's Raven

_Prologue_

Operation Mirage

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**~Antarctic Hydra Base~**

**August, 2001**

A knock at the door had the man looking up from his desk. "Enter." He called. The door opened and then closed behind the newcomer. "Agent." The Colonel greeted coolly.

The woman stared straight ahead, posture perfect, hands clasped behind her back. "I have news from the doctor, sir, about my recent condition."

"And that is?" He asked impatiently.

"I am four months pregnant, sir." The woman said, swallowing hard, but otherwise remaining perfectly stoic.

The Colonel looked the woman over. She looked no different than she usually did, other than dark spots beneath her eyes from her recent sickness. "Mission or personal?"

"I believe it was the Argentina mission, sir." Her voice didn't so much as waver as she spoke, betraying none of the emotions she felt.

The Colonel nodded. "You'll be out in the field for another month or so. After that, we'll send you to data for the time being. We'll figure out what to do with the child when the time comes." He decided.

"Yes, sir." The woman responded.

"Dismissed." The Colonel announced, looking back down at the papers on his desk.

"Hail Hydra."

The moment the door closed behind one of his best agents, a slow smile spread across the Colonel's face. He picked up the phone sitting on his desk, dialing a familiar number. There was a moment of silence on the line, and then, "Colonel."

"The project has begun." The Colonel informed. "Plans centered on the Argentina mission's Agent were successful."

"I trust that the proper preparations will have been made by the time of birth? The serum must be perfected by then, this will be our only chance for a very long time, and it is very time-critical." The voice asked.

"We have already made many advancements with the testings. Projected completion date is about a month before the birth." The Colonel answered.

"Good. I'll have some men start putting together lessons. This child is going to be a very useful weapon to Hydra."

* * *

**December 21st, 2001**

The scream echoed throughout the empty halls. The medical wing was practically empty, except for the small team in the maternity ward. There was something big going on down at the other end of the base, and many agents had been called down to keep the subject under control. Everyone else was there either as help on the research team or simply to watch the breakthrough of said research team.

"You are fine. The pain is nothing." The nurse assured the woman with a heavy accent.

"I don't think you know the meaning of the word 'nothing.'" She groaned through clenched teeth.

"It will be over soon." The nurse monotoned. "Push."

"I just want this thing out of me!" Another scream ripped from her throat.

* * *

Colonel Karpov smiled. All was going according to plan, even with the birth of Operation Mirage happening a month earlier than expected. The current subject was responding well to the serum, and was already showcasing all of the effects they wanted. His strength had grown immensely, his reflexes were marvelous, his senses had grown tenfold, and his agility was being tested right now. Endurance and healing factor would be tested after that, but those aspects of the serum had already been perfected four trials ago.

Of course, the serum wouldn't last. The subject would likely die within the next twenty four hours. That was fine, the subject was expendable. All they needed was to know that the serum worked. Now all they needed was a younger subject, so that the serum could properly assimilate with the body, and it could be handled longer term, without adverse effect.

It was time the Colonel took a trip down to the maternity ward.

* * *

A cry pierced the air. "Female. Born 4:03 a.m. December 21st, 2001. 5.7 pounds." The nurse announced, wrapping the newborn in a pink blanket.

The woman on the bed sighed. She was glad to be done with that. It was even worse than the time that dealer broke her leg and shot her in the back. And that had been one hell of a recovery. She just couldn't wait until they let her back out onto the field so she could get back into the action and forget any of this ever happened.

A slow clapping came from the doorway of the room. The woman glanced over to see the Colonel in the doorway, and moved to sit up to give him the proper respect, but the nurse shoved her back down with one arm, baby in the other, telling her she needed to rest. But the Colonel hadn't come to speak to her, it seemed. He had eyes only for the child, a slow smile spreading across his face as he moved to stand beside the nurse.

"Welcome to Hydra, child." He greeted, pressing a filled syringe into the nurse's hand, the first of many to come. "You shall be a very great asset to Hydra, our own little Mirage."

* * *

**February, 2004**

The woman glared distastefully at the toddler sitting in the middle of the room. She shouldn't have been stuck here, teaching this thing, when she could have been out on the Tokyo mission-

The child was staring at her. She didn't like it, not a single bit. "What?" She demanded harshly. "What do you want, you little brat?"

It was all the brat's fault, everything. If not for that child, she'd have moved up the ranks. She was a great agent, and she could have done so much good for Hydra. Instead, she was stuck here, babysitting the child that had ruined her life. She had never wanted a child. It had never been in the cards for her. But then the Argentina mission had happened, and she must not have been careful enough. She came home with more than just that traitor's blood on her hands. She'd come home with his child. Or it may have been his client's child. She didn't really care which, just that, in completing her mission, she'd gotten a lot more than she'd bargained for. And Hydra hadn't cleared her for an abortion, or at least put the brat under someone else's watch. She'd have been fine if she didn't have to watch it, she knew Hydra was always looking for new recruits, and what better way than to start them on the path of an agent from birth?

All of a sudden, the child started laughing. Laughter, in a Hydra base, and coming from a child, no less! The woman glanced over at the child again, but the reprimand died on her lips as she stared in shock. She ran past the child to the door of the room, and opened it only enough to speak to the guard outside. "Get Colonel Karpov here immediately. There has been development with the asset. Hurry." She barked.

She closed the door and looked back at the child, who was still facing the back wall of the room. She was clapping her hands happily to some tune only she could hear, and she didn't notice the woman staring at her. All the better. They would have to be very careful around the child from now on.

* * *

Colonel Karpov was not exactly happy to be pulled from his debriefing with the returned agents from the Slovakia mission. He let them go on with the debriefing without him, leaving them with the expectation of a full report when he returned. They saluted, and he followed the guard out.

The Colonel spoke as he opened the door to the training room, but stopped abruptly when he saw what lay inside. "Agent, this had better be-"

The woman stepped over so that she was beside him. "I don't know how it happened," she explained, "one moment, she was staring at me, the next, she's laughing, and, well, that." She gestured toward the child.

"The sooner the better, I suppose." The Colonel decided.

"What?" The woman asked, startled.

"We expected this, but not at three years of age. The serum seems to have sped up the showcasing of the asset's abilities." The Colonel answered.

"I don't understand, sir." The woman said.

"One particular client of the Argentina target only visits earth every forty five years or so. We had to time everything perfectly for this to work." The Colonel explained. "Agent, meet Operation Mirage."

Neither spoke another word as they stared at the child, the woman processing the new information. They watched in silence as the child's hair, no longer a soft blonde color, but ginger like her mother's, shifted to white, then black, brown, dirty blonde, and back to ginger again.

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**Alrighty, so there's the prologue! Make sure to drop a review and tell me what you think of everything so far.**

**I'm thinking I might do a teaser quote every five chapters or so, not every chapter because I don't want to give away too too much, what would people think about that? It's just an idea I'm toying with, I would do a teaser from the next chapter at the bottom of each, idk.**

**Anyways, that's that for now, thanks everyone who decides to read, review, follow, or favorite my fics! You don't have to do any of those things, but it's very much appreciated!**

**~Writing Desk's Raven**


	3. 1:1 - Nameless

**Good Love Lingers On**

Writing Desk's Raven

_Part I_

Rough Start

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**~Antarctic Hydra Base~**

**January 2007**

The girl trembled slightly as she crouched behind the heavy metal desk, clutching the stuffed rabbit to her chest. She hadn't meant to be any trouble, she'd just seen the stuffed toy and fallen in love with it. Not like any of the people around here would care for it like she would. They were laughing and throwing it around, and one of them had split the seam on the arm with a well-thrown dagger. They'd only left it behind because they were called away for something. Her handler had _not_ been pleased to find her playing with the toy, though.

She was determined to keep it. She had nothing of her own, not really. The only things that were always returned to her were her clothes, and even those had to be washed every once in awhile, so they would give her something else to wear for a day. But now she had this rabbit, and she wasn't going to let it go. They always took away anything remotely fun when she wasn't in lessons. No books, or maps, or daggers for her.

"No one's gonna find you, mister. Don't worry." She whispered to the rabbit, hugging it close for another moment. "I'll make sure of it."

A door slammed open at the other end of the large office. The girl quickly pried up the corner of the small floor tiles closest to her. It gave easily, lifting out of the floor without so much as a scraping sound. She'd torn it out weeks ago, planning to hide something from her lessons, to keep something to herself. Now, she had something even better to put in there.

"Asset!" The angry voice of her handler shouted. She was sure to get beaten for this. Worth it. "To me, now!"

"My name is Elise!" The girl shouted, popping up from her place behind the desk, having set the heavy tile back into place.

Phaedra stalked over to her, making to grab for her hair, but the girl was immediately bald. Her handler missed her mark and nearly stumbled. The girl crossed her arms in defiance, lengthening her hair back into the princess curls she adored. Phaedra slapped her across the face.

"Listen here, Asset." She spat angrily. "I don't care what a little brat like you thinks, or what you want. There is only what Hydra wants. _You have no name._ Only Mirage, or Asset. You are a weapon of Hydra, and you will be referred to as such. I expect you to act as such, as well. Now, where is that damn toy?"

Elise held her head high. "You'll never find him." She said. "Sir Bradford Derrywine III doesn't take audiences with mere _commoners_."

Phaedra grabbed her arm and began to drag her out of the room. Elise dug her heels into the floor, stopping her handler entirely. A smug look began to cross her face, but Phaedra just picked her up and threw her over her shoulder. She kicked and screamed, but her strength was of no use when the woman wore the armor plating under her clothes, built specifically to withstand her strength during her tantrums.

"Believe me, you will regret everything you have ever done when I find that rabbit." Phaedra intoned coldly.

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**This one's a bit short, but I'm already working on the next few. I just wanted to spread the events of Part I a little, seeing as there's going to be a lot of time skipped between events, and Part I was never going to have too too many scenes, anyways. I almost decided not to include it, but I decided a backstory was more important than getting right into the most interesting parts of the story. As of right now, there are six parts planned, varying in length. The different parts chronicle different 'phases' of the main character's life, so while Parts I and II are planned to be pretty short, most of the entire plot takes place in Parts IV and V. Things are subject to change though, so we'll see how it goes.**

**I've also been editing and re-editing the summary for the story, don't mind me lol, it took me ages to settle on a name for her that I actually liked, it went through like seventy different things and kept switching between two til I finally decided.**

**As always, drop a follow/favorite and/or review to tell me what you think! Any feedback's good, just don't roast me too hard, please.**

**~Aiden, Writing Desk's Raven**


	4. 1:2 - Professor

**~Antarctic Hydra Base~**

**March, 2007**

"You are meeting your new teacher today. Get up." Phaedra ordered from the doorway, before leaving as abruptly as she'd come.

The girl groaned, but did as she was told. She hoped this new teacher would at least try to make the lessons more interesting than the last few had. Maybe then she wouldn't have to force them to quit. The last one had had it with her after she locked her in the freezer in the kitchens for the seventh time in a week.

"Sir." Phaedra greeted, steering the girl into the empty room she always had her lessons in. "This is the Asset."

"Thank you, Agent. You can leave us now." The old man responded.

"But-"

"I'd like to teach the Asset alone. _Without_ her handler around." He said firmly.

"Yes, sir." Phaedra gave in. She eyed the girl one last time, as if to warn her against stepping out of line, then left.

"Hello, child. You may call me Professor." The man introduced, kneeling down in front of her. "And what may I call you?"

"I don't care." She said warily. "Handler says I have no name. They just call me Asset."

"Surely, you must have given yourself a name?" He pushed. She just shrugged. "In this room, and this room only, you can be whoever you want, child."

"I am the Mirage, an asset of Hydra." The girl knew better than to trust anyone working under Hydra. None of them cared about her. They would sooner deceive and manipulate her than give a child hope.

"Whatever you wish, child." Professor said. "Now. For our first lesson, we will begin with world geography. Name every country you know on this map."

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**Two Weeks Later**

"Welsh. I am here to find my target and dispose of him."

"Rwyf yma i ddod o hyd i'm targed a chael gwared arno." The girl recited.

"Good. German, now. My assignment is to recover foreign intelligence from the military." Professor instructed.

"Meine Aufgabe ist es, ausländische Geheimdienste vom Militär zurückzugewinnen."

"Italian. I am a weapon of Hydra."

"Sono un'arma di Hydra."

"You are doing well with your studies, child. Your pronunciations are near flawless, and you speak as a native. Next lesson, we will continue working on Arabic and Spanish."

"Yes, Professor." The girl said.

"Off to your room, now, Elise." She inclined her head toward the man and scurried out of the room.

* * *

**One Month Later**

**April, 2007**

"Good form, but your details are off. Any trained person would know immediately that something was wrong." Professor said, inspecting her form closely as he knelt there on the ground. "The scales need to be larger, and the tail needs to be longer. The eyes are too many shades of color off."

The girl, currently in the form of a knight anole lizard, just jumped from her teacher's hands to the floor.

"Try a red-winged blackbird." Professor said.

The girl closed her eyes, felt the transformation wash over her. When she opened them, she was slightly higher off the ground than she was in the body of a lizard, though not by too much. The professor held out a hand, and she hopped over, gripping his finger with her claws.

He lifted a wing gently with one finger. "The bones, they are all crooked and misplaced here." He told her. "And that is not the beak of a red-winged blackbird. It is the beak of a canary."

The girl fluttered to the floor and shifted again. Going back to some semblance of herself was the only thing she did well, and even that was never perfect. She never looked entirely the same after a shift, and she had to wonder whether she would ever be good at this.

"I can't do this, Professor." She said, disheartened. "What good is a canary-beaked blackbird? Hydra would be better off taking me out back and shooting me like they do the prisoners."

"Don't you _ever _say anything like that about yourself again, child." Professor ordered. "Now. Try me."

"I can't get a bird, and you want me to do a human, who has so many more details for me to mess up?" She asked incredulously.

"You are trying too hard. You can't force something such as this." He told her. "Let your power wash over you, rather than reigning it in. Don't focus so much on details, because that is when you lose other parts. Focus on the whole, and let the shift happen as it will."

"Alright." She sighed.

The girl closed her eyes for the millionth time that day, and pictured the professor's short gray hair, wrinkled skin, and twinkling brown eyes. She pictured the lab coat he always wore, paired with matching olive green scrubs. She pictured all of him, the big picture instead of just the details. She imagined his kind words, his gentle manner as he taught her. He was the only one who'd ever shown her any sort of kindness. No one else bothered. Why would they, when she was meant to be nothing more than a weapon, a machine of war?

"You can open your eyes, Elise." Professor said gently. She did, and she found herself face to face with her teacher.

"Did I do it?" She asked hesitantly.

"You did, child." He responded. "Let the shift happen as it will. As long as you know your target well enough, your power will fill in the rest. You've done it just now. As you train yourself, you will get even better at it."

"What's your last name, Professor?" The girl asked curiously, letting the old man's body melt away into her own.

"Why do you ask?" He responded.

"I want a last name. I want a name that came from a family." She said, then frowned. "I don't have a family, though."

"You can be mine, then." Professor said. "I have no one to pass it on to, my name, and all my family is long gone."

"Really?" She asked hopefully. "You would be my family? What would that make me?"

"That would make you whoever you want to be in this world, Elise Shay."

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**Took forever, but I got another chapter up! I think it'll be easier for me to get back into the swing of doing things like writing more regularly now that I've got a job, because that'll give me more structure in the rest of my summer. Hope y'all like this one, I've got the next one somewhat started, so we'll see when that goes up.**

**~Writing Desk's Raven**


	5. 1:3 - Spiders, Princess

**Shion Lee -** It actually isn't! I hadn't even thought of him, actually lol. You'll see eventually, though :)))

**Thanks for the review!**

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**~Antarctic Hydra Base~**

**May, 2007**

A scream pierced the air. No one paid it any attention. Another scream rang out, then cut short, and there was the sound of something heavy dropping.

The scientist let out an annoyed sigh. Why couldn't the subject just hold on a little longer? This was the fifth time they'd tried to complete this experiment in the past two weeks, and she kept passing out.

"Put her through more endurance training, and get her some more _meat_ in her meals, Phaedra." The scientist listed off, pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses.

"Of course." The handler said, inclining her head to the scientist, before exiting the observation room.

* * *

As much as she struggled, the girl couldn't get out of the restraints. She'd done so one too many times when they'd first started the treatments, and they now took every precaution to keep her in that chair. Well, technically, the treatments had started long before she was able to even _try_ to fight against them, having started when she was born. But as she grew, and learned fine motor skills and such, she'd begun to struggle, and they'd learned how to contain her strength while they gave her the various injections.

She didn't particularly know what the many injections were for, nor did she care. All she knew was that she _hated_ them, with every fiber of her being. The scientists were never particularly careful in sticking the needles in her arms and legs, and the injections themselves were usually painful and left her sick and dizzy for days on end. Every time she got an injection, they'd put her through various medical and physical tests, which would leave her even weaker and more light-headed.

"This would be over sooner if you would just sit still!" A scientist berated her. She just growled at him, yanking her arms and legs up against the metal restraints. No dice.

"Though it may take some time, I am perfectly willing to let you tire yourself out before we get this done." The scientist told her. She ignored him. Something dinged, and he looked away from her. "Scratch that, boss wants you in for testing in the next ten minutes. Better calm yourself, now, Princess, or this is going to be extremely painful."

She wouldn't give in. She wouldn't do what anyone in this place told her. She would rather die.

The scientist let out a mirthless laugh as she continued to struggle. They'd learned to gag her before injections and experiments ages ago, elsewise she'd be screaming at him, too.

"Let's see how this one goes, shall we, Princess?" He mused, shoving the needle none too gently into her elbow.

The gag couldn't contain the scream that ripped from her throat.

* * *

Pain. Pain like a thousand tiny spiders scuttling across her body, finding places to burrow, digging their legs into her skin as they went. Opening their jaws wide to pierce her skin with their fangs, ripping through her, injecting their foul poison into her body. And then, a drowning sensation. Hands at her throat, liquid all around her. No air, no oxygen, no breath. _No breath no breath no breath-_

All of a sudden, it was gone. The hands at her throat were her own. The clear green liquid was already down to a mere pool at her feet, dripping from her hair and her clothes and her limbs. The needles were gone from her skin, the thin tubes retracting back into the metal walls of the chamber. Beyond the glass wall in front of her, several scientists monitored various machines and jotted down notes.

When the liquid had drained completely, a fan came on, drying her off. The glass wall slid down and she stepped out of the chamber, shuddering and glad to be out of there. That one was perhaps the worst of their experiments and injections. She always felt like she would never get enough air into her lungs again when she was in there, and the feel of the tubes drifting across her skin to find their marks always left her feeling jittery, as though the crawl of the imagined spiders would never go away.

Hydra made it even worse when they threw her into a pit of real spiders, in order to test their various antivenom serums on her. Never had she been more determined to excel in her training than after that when they used some of the spiders for target practice with gunmanship.

* * *

F**inally got through this chapter! This one was giving me some problems, but it's all done, now, and I've got some good ideas for the next few. Can't wait to get them out to y'all.**

**Hopefully you like this story, if not, drop a review and tell me what I could do better! (And if you do like it, drop a favorite/follow or a review, anything to let me know you like it and you'd like to see more!) Thanks for reading, everyone!**

**~Aiden Jade**


	6. 1:4 - Kill Me, Sweetheart

**~Antarctic Hydra Base~**

**September, 2008**

"Je suis-" The door to the room slammed open, and both the girl and the professor looked over to find out what the commotion was.

Phaedra. She was followed into the room by several guards, armed to the teeth, who were in turn herding in two prisoners. A man and a woman, both looking fairly beat up, each gagged and with their hands tied behind their backs.

"What is this?" Professor asked, stalking over to Phaedra. The girl quietly got up from her seated position on the concrete floor.

"A more important training opportunity than language has come up for the asset." Phaedra said simply. Professor didn't say anything, only sighed and went back to his chair at the small desk covered in books and maps. They'd been going over geography before moving on to language in the day's lessons. One of their last lessons, actually. Professor was being transferred to a different base in about a week. "Asset, to me."

The girl walked warily over to her handler. What the woman did next surprised her greatly.

She handed her a gun.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" She asked innocently.

Phaedra nodded towards the two prisoners. "These two found out more than they should have about us. They brought their findings to the wrong person, one of our sleeper agents, so we orchestrated a plane crash. As of right now, everyone they know and love believes them dead."

The girl remained silent, surveying the two quietly. The man had a cracked pair of glasses resting on his nose, and his brown hair was a complete mess, covered in dirt and blood. The woman didn't look much better, her face covered in cuts and bruises.

"Asset, what do we do with anyone who defies Hydra?" Phaedra asked.

"Take them out back?" The girl answered noncommittally.

"And what do we do out back?" Phaedra asked impatiently.

There was a long silence. Phaedra gave her a look, and she finally spoke. "Kill them."

"You are an excellent marksman, Asset." Phaedra prompted. "This is your next target practice."

The tension in the room was almost palpable. Phaedra stared at the girl, and she stared at the gun in her hands. The prisoners couldn't tear their eyes away from the two, and the guards kept their gazes trained on the prisoners. The professor didn't look at anyone in the room, rubbing his temples as he looked down at the maps in front of him.

"I-" She started to speak, then stopped. "I don't want to kill them."

"You will do as you are told, Asset." Phaedra ordered steelily.

She looked up at her handler. Squared her shoulders. Repeated her words. "I don't want to kill them."

"_Now_, Asset."

"No."

"Do as you are told, Asset, or so help me, god-"

The girl couldn't believe what she'd just done. She hadn't shot her handler, the guards would have been on her before she could have pulled the trigger had she raised the gun. Instead, she'd _thrown_ the gun at her handler. Phaedra had stopped speaking when the heavy metal object had hit her square in the face, causing her nose to begin bleeding profusely.

No one dared move a muscle as the weight of what had just happened set in. Then, faster than the girl could comprehend it, her handler pulled out another gun and shot one of the prisoners between the eyes. Her mouth fell open as she watched the man slump to floor, eyes gone lifeless and cold, blood and brain matter leaking from the exit wound at the back of his head.

Phaedra turned to the closest guard. "Bring the Asset to the cryo center, and leave the prisoner in the prepared cell. One hour of cryo-punishment." She ordered.

"Her body can't support something like that, Phaedra!" The professor interjected loudly. "She's not even seven years old yet, she can't sustain one form for long without changing! The scientists have confirmed this multiple times!"

"I have had enough of her disobedience. She will learn to obey her orders one way or another." Phaedra said furiously, blood still dripping down her face.

"You are going to kill the Asset." The professor said softly, but his voice was clear in the quiet room.

"Maybe the Asset should have been the one to do the killing, then." With that, she spun on her heel and stalked out of the room.

The girl dutifully followed as two of the guards herded the other prisoner out of the room, the others surrounding her to make sure she went where Phaedra ordered. There was no way she could or would have tried anything, not now. She'd never defied her handler like that. Sure, she'd thrown tantrums and run from her handler and everything else, but she'd never harmed her handler purposefully like that. And while she may have seen its effects before, she'd never witnessed death firsthand.

* * *

Cryo-punishment was a nightmare worse than anything she could _ever_ have imagined. The guards had forced her to strip her clothing off, and put her inside one of the cryostasis pods that Hydra used for various experiments or soldiers. But this wasn't like any normal cryostasis, where the mind and body were put to sleep and were, essentially, in storage. No, this was much worse.

Her body was asleep, that much was true. But her mind wasn't. This cryo-punishment slowed down her body's functions to keep her in stasis, but it kept her mind awake, and alert. At first, it just seemed like she would be forced to endure the boredom. Alright, she'd done that before, and for much longer periods of time than an hour. But then, after the first few minutes, she realized.

She couldn't shift.

She'd never stayed in one form for more than ten minutes at a time. Sure, not all of her shifts were big ones, she did a lot of shifts through skin tones, hair and eye colors, height and weight, etcetera. But she was constantly shifting. Be it her entire body or a single limb, she was constantly shifting the details subtly and not-so-subtly, never remaining as she was for long. Why remain the same when you could change, after all?

The cryostasis pod kept her mind awake but her body asleep so that she would feel the need to change, and would be unable to do so. Ever since she could remember, she'd needed to change. She wasn't meant to stay in one form long, and when she did, it had negative effects on both her mind and body.

First came the shaking. Her body was still asleep, so it happened in very small movements, more a muscle reaction than her body's normal functions, like when one is hit by lightning and their muscles seize and throw them across the room. It felt the same as when she didn't eat enough, and her blood sugar went low. Her body began to shake while she was hit with waves of nausea and lightheadedness.

It took fifteen minutes for the cryostasis to begin to affect her. It only took another ten minutes for tears to begin leaking from her eyes, while every nerve in her body felt electrified, and not in a good way. Her veins felt like molten lava, and her blood rushed fast, begging her body to change. But she couldn't. She couldn't control her own body, could do nothing but live in her own imagination, couldn't even open her eyes under the cryostasis.

It felt like she had been there forever, like she had been forgotten. She'd managed to lose count of how long she had been in the cryostasis, something that had never happened before. She always had her wits about her, always knew her surroundings and how long she'd been somewhere. But somewhere around twenty five minutes, she'd lost all track of time in the pain her body inflicted upon her. She truly had no way of knowing whether she'd been in there for minutes or days, and no way of knowing how much longer she'd be subjected to this pain.

* * *

When she was finally let out of the cryostasis pod, the girl could do nothing but fall to her knees, chest heaving for breath. She shifted more times than she could count in a single moment, and couldn't stop any of it from happening. Her hair, her eyes, her hands, her face, her whole body, her beak, her scales, her wings, her claws, her body her body _her body her body her body._ Her handler just sneered at her, nose no longer bleeding but looking slightly crooked. She was thrown into the tall cage against the wall, and a pile of clothes was thrown on top of her. Then the door was locking, and her handler was leaving, and the lights were dimmed to a muted glow from the single line of cryostasis pods in the room.

She couldn't stop the sob that ripped from her throat as the shifts slowed and eventually began flitting slowly through the forms of children vaguely her age. Not yet seven, professor had said. Not yet, she knew, but close. Just a few more months and she'd be another year older. Another year trapped under Hydra's thumb.

A hand touching her back had her springing away, though it wasn't very far due to the small size of the cage and the weakness of her exhausted body. The girl looked up wildly, only to find the woman prisoner from earlier. She said nothing, only held up the small set of clothes that had been provided for the child. The girl took them quietly, but found trouble in moving her tired body enough to actually put them on. The woman wordlessly helped her slip the shirt over her head, the pants onto her lower half.

The girl's form settled into a single image of a freckled, redheaded child, no longer flitting between different forms, however similar. She eyed the woman curiously, wondering what kind of dangerous dirt this innocent looking woman could have dug up on Hydra in order for them to fake her death and take her prisoner.

"My name's Mary." The woman whispered. "What's yours?"

She didn't respond. She was so _tired_, and- and there she went, slumping over in exhaustion. The woman gently pulled her over to her lap, trying to make her more comfortable on the single, scratchy blanket that served as a bed in the cage. She fell asleep to the woman's soft strokes and comforting whispers.

* * *

They were both brought to the training rooms the next morning. The woman, Mary, was bound, though not gagged, and the handful of guards accompanied them. The girl went along dutifully once again, knowing what was coming but hoping against hope that something would keep it from taking place.

Nothing could stop her handler, though, and the gun was pressed into her hands once again.

The cold, smooth metal of the gun, the icy demeanor of her handler, the near-tangible tension in the room, the fear in Mary's eyes, the shakiness of her own hands - it was all too much. She couldn't even lift the gun all the way to point it at the woman.

Phaedra wasn't impressed. She barked out an order for the guards to put her under cryostasis for an hour and a half, and left. The girl could barely react as the guards swarmed around her, disarming her and dragging her to the room with the cryo pods. It felt like everything was happening to someone else, someone other than her, and she was just watching, helpless. Always helpless.

* * *

"Shhh, shhhh. It's going to be okay, sweetheart. It's alright, you're okay. You're okay." Mary whispered, stroking her hair. The girl had her face buried in the woman's chest, sobbing after her most recent cryo-punishment. It had been six days since the first time she'd had to endure it, having been punished again each day when she refused to kill Mary, but the latest punishment had had her in there for five hours. For five hours she was subjected to the nightmare that was waking cryostasis, a stasis that would not affect anyone else but with madness or boredom, but that made her DNA scream in agony.

It had nearly been more than her heart could handle. She was unresponsive when they let her out, and she'd been rushed off to the infirmary, where the doctors had nearly had to restart her heart. As it was, she'd been held in the infirmary for a day, before she was thrown back into this cell with the prisoner she was meant to kill.

"I want to show you something, Elise." Mary said softly, and the girl lifted her head curiously, tears still leaking down her face.

"Mama?" She asked, then froze. Mary wasn't her mother, though she acted more like one to her than anyone else ever had. She had no mother, she knew, though if the rumors she'd heard around the base were true, then it meant her handler was her mother, but she didn't really like the idea of that. Her handler was in no way, shape or form, mother material.

"Oh, you poor dear." Mary whispered, hugging her tight for a moment. Then she leaned back and pulled a silver locket from under her shirt. Opening it, she showed the picture inside to her. "This is my son. He's not much younger than you, I think. You remind me of him. The fire inside you, the gleam in your eyes, it's the same as his."

"Your son?" The girl asked, staring with wide eyes at the little picture of the grinning boy.

"Yes." Mary said, closing the locket and removing it from around her neck. She pulled the necklace gently over the girl's head, tucking it into her shirt. "I want you to have this. And I want you to keep that fire inside of you, don't let it burn out, and don't ever let that gleam leave your eyes. Don't ever lose yourself, Shay."

"Mama?" The girl asked again, this time a note of fear in her voice.

"You need to kill me, sweetheart." The girl's heart skipped a beat, or two, or three. She felt like she couldn't breathe. "And, for the record, I would have loved to have had the chance to be your mama, too, Shay."

* * *

The coolness of smooth metal on skin.

.

The absolute certainty of what one must do.

.

The soft smile of a mother.

.

The sharp tang of gunpowder in the air.

.

The copper scent of blood.

.

The bitterness of regret.

.

The thud of metal on training mats.

.

The frustrated stare of a girl, alone in this world.

.

The gleam of something new in her eyes. The flaring up of a raging fire in her soul.


	7. 1:5 - Sirène

**bookwriter123456 - **Thanks! And I can't wait to get more written and posted :)))

* * *

**~Adelaide Hydra Base, Australia~**

**August, 2011**

The girl shifted her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably as she stood, waiting. Waiting for them to clear her to go. She didn't want to be holed up inside this base any longer. She wanted fresh air, maybe a chance to shift and stretch her wings. She loved flying.

"Do you understand your mission goal, Sirène?" The missions director's heavily french-accented voice echoed. Ever since her first mission, he'd taken to calling her that.

_It had almost been too easy. All she'd had to do was pretend to be the woman's lost daughter, drifting aimlessly to and fro across the villa's courtyard. No one thought to check that she was actually there, not when the woman had been having hallucinations of her child ever since she'd been lost. It was a simple task, drifting out of the courtyard and into the forests beyond, luring the woman away from her home and the guards protecting her from Hydra. She was a witness, and she had to be taken out._

_The mission would have been easily completed by any competent Hydra field agent, but they wanted to test the girl. They'd been training her, alongside using the cryo-punishment, to lengthen her endurance in a single form. Before, she'd only been able to last a couple minutes in a single form. Now, she could go for an hour. This mission was pushing it - it took half an hour just for the woman to finally spot her, wandering aimlessly through her home as she often did. Nevertheless, she completed her mission, and Hydra got their witness. _

_Back at the Ascunsión base in Paraguay, she had been praised for a mission well-completed. The base's leading figures were happy to have the witness in Hydra's hands, the scientists were happy with the development in how long she could remain in one form, and the missions director was happy that she had completed her first mission successfully and he could send her on more. 'Siren' became his nickname for her from then on, as her first couple of missions all dealt with luring out witnesses and targets for other Hydra agents to take care of. _

"Yes, sir." The girl stated simply.

"Recap it for me." He directed.

"Target: Thomas Williams, a political activist intent on the downfall of some of Hydra's men in the Australian government. He has become very popular, and will be protected by city police at today's rally, as will the other speakers. My goal is to get close and take him down." She repeated.

"Good. You are clear to go." He decided. "There is a Jeep waiting outside for you. Make us proud, Sirène." She didn't miss the unspoken threat. _Or face punishment for your failures._

* * *

Getting into the rally was… interesting, to say the least. She was on her own for this mission, which meant that she had to get in on her own, without another agent waiting for her inside with a clothing bag and weapon for her to claim.

In the end, she'd gone in right through security. They'd set up metal detectors and had tables for checking people's bags. She tagged along behind a mother and her two children, shifting to look like them. When the metal detector went off, security could find nothing incriminating on the chubby little girl, and sent her on her way into the rally, shrugging it off as a faulty detector. Shifting to rid herself of the gun embedded just under her skin was a relief. It always felt weird to do that, to shift herself around an object in order to hide it.

She wandered the rally for perhaps an hour. Williams wouldn't be going on to speak for awhile, listed as the fifth speaker. They all had similar goals and ideas, the speakers, belonging all to the same organization, but Williams was the only one they wanted. He had information on their men, and was planning on revealing it here at this rally. This was Hydra's best chance to get at him, so she couldn't fail.

When Williams was announced, she made her way towards the guards at one entrance to the side of the stage. She went up and tugged on the shirt of one of the men, putting on her most innocent, teary looking face. "Sir?"

"You okay, kid?" The guard asked, looking down at her in concern. She shook her head, more tears leaking out. Behind the guards, up onstage, Williams was beginning his speech with his familiar slogan.

"I can't find my daddy anywhere, sir." The girl sniffed. "I'm scared. There are too many people."

"Why don't you wait behind us on the steps, kid? We can find your daddy after the rally?" He suggested kindly. She nodded, sniffling, and the guard stepped aside so she could access the stairs. Too easy. No one ever suspected a seven year old.

Just a few more steps, and she'd be perfectly in line. She reached into her light jacket, fingers closing around the handle of the gun. She was just about to draw it out of her jacket when arms wrapped around her from behind. "Oh my god, sweetie, I'm so glad I found you!"

She turned around in the man's arms, hand dropping to her side. The guards at this side of the stage were watching them curiously. The man must have pushed through them to get there.

"Who are you?" She blurted.

That put the guards on high alert, drawing weapons and speaking into radios quickly. The man simply laughed, wrapping a firm arm around her throat and holding a gun to her head. "Williams!" He shouted. "Come here or I will kill this little girl!"

That caught the attention of the people around them. Suddenly, all eyes were on the man holding a gun to the little girl's head, and the guards eyeing him warily, not daring to make a move just yet with the little girl's life at stake. The activist turned to face them, mouth agape. No one moved or spoke.

"Come on, Williams! You are coming with me, or this child will not live to see another day!" The man ordered.

That snapped the activist out of his stupor. "And just where do you think you'll be taking me?" He demanded.

"Doesn't matter. And they won't care if you're harmed, so you'd do best to just get a move on." He laughed. "We want you alive, Williams."

"This is about the documents." Williams stated flatly, no emotion in his voice.

"Documents?" The man holding onto her asked, confused. "You've gained too much traction, Williams. This can't go on."

"You're not here about the documents?" Williams asked, eyebrows raising.

"What documents are you on about, Williams?" The man asked.

"Enough of this." The girl sighed, shoving an elbow back into the man's gut. Surprised and with the wind knocked out of him, he released her and stumbled back. A child's size came in handy quite a bit more often than one would think. She whirled around to face both the man and Williams, who had unconsciously moved closer to the two out of fear for the girl's safety.

"Such a shame you had to come across those documents, Williams." She smiled cruelly. His face registered an expression of shock.

"You're a child!" He exclaimed.

"This guy might want you alive. But _we_ want you dead." Before anyone had a chance to react, she'd pulled out her gun and fired at the activist. She was already turning to the man who'd held her when Williams' body hit the ground. He joined the ranks of the dead not a moment later. "And _don't _you dare touch me."

The guards finally snapped out of their stupors. One fired a shot at her, which, by all accounts, should have hit her, but a subtle shift and throwing herself to the side kept it from hitting her. She dove past the guards and into the crowd, running as fast as she could. The crowd had gone crazy when the first shot rang out, and the chaos made it easy for her to move through and lose the guards, shifting her features as she went.

No one noticed the hawk that alighted on one wall of the structure, watching the chaos unfold and seemingly laughing at the guards that dashed through the crowds, fruitless in their searches for a brunette child. The hawk remained only for a minute, before flying away, gliding on air currents toward an obscure destination.

* * *

"That was messy, Sirène." The missions director stated firmly.

"I completed the mission. Thomas Williams will no longer haunt our men in the Australian government." She said, holding her chin higher.

"The other man was unnecessary." He reprimanded.

She didn't say anything, moodily staring at the table of the conference room. The missions director was one of the only people anywhere in Hydra that ever praised her. She wanted him to be on her side. The only other person she truly liked was the professor, but she hadn't seen him in a long time. They'd transferred him away, and her lessons had been taken over by someone else. Soon after that, she'd been transferred to another base with her handler, and she'd met this man. She didn't actually know his name, but she never really knew anyone's name. No one really went by their names in Hydra, but by titles.

The missions director had quickly taken a liking to her, already formulating ideas and plans for the missions he could send her on in order to better complete them, or to do things they had previously been unable to do. His strategy was unparalleled when it came to creating teams and plans for missions, and he was highly valued to Hydra. That's why they set him to control all of her missions. He would be the most capable of using the Asset to the best of Hydra's abilities. So he had remained with her, transferring to whatever base she was transferred to with her handler, and working with the current base's missions director to set up missions both with and without her. He was still good at finding teams who played off of each other's strengths, after all.

"Just go to dinner, Sirène." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "You did a good job, today, I must admit."

* * *

**I'm back! Sorry that I've been gone for so long, I've just been really overwhelmed with my senior year of high school, my job, and my mental health. Things seem to have settled down a bit more now, though, so that's good. And I finally got out of that damned writer's block, which is nice. Idk when I'll have the next chapter up, but I'll definitely do my best to make it sooner than when this one went up. There's no way I'm abandoning this story, either. I'd hate myself if I did that.**

**Anyways, what did people think? Feel free to leave a favorite or follow, or a review with any comments, questions, or suggestions! I'd love to hear some feedback on my writing!**


	8. 1:6 - Nothing But Dreams

**Not gonna lie, I absolutely hated the way I wrote this chapter. I completely rewrote a good bit of it, so sorry to anyone who read it before I took it down. Anyways, here's the new and improved chapter!**

* * *

**~Adelaide Hydra Base, Australia~**

**September, 2011**

Not a thing stirred in the Hydra base as the man moved silently through its halls. There were several big missions currently underway, so everyone was either out in the field or asleep in their quarters.

That included the Asset, whose quarters he was on his way to. He fingered the syringe hidden inside his coat. It was a shame to have to dull her at all, but it was necessary. Couldn't have her using that strength of hers to stop him. He wouldn't need it eventually, but now was not the time to take chances.

* * *

_No sound. No movement. She sat on her bed, watching the door. It drew open slowly, and a figure shrouded in shadow slipped in. As the person drew closer, they held up something that glinted in the minimal light._

_She grabbed the figure's wrist when they moved to drive the metal towards her, keeping the deadly object away from her face and throat. The figure only laughed, a deep, guttural sound. She felt a prick at the base of her neck, and her hand dropped to her side._

_Falling._

_Falling.._

_Falling…_

_Falling was all that there was. All that she knew. It felt like it was all she had ever known, as if there was never anything else. No. There was something else. A hand, grasping her wrist in the dark. The hand was warm, but it felt wrong. Unnatural. It grew hotter and hotter, burning bright, searing at her skin. She tried to pull away, but she couldn't move. All she could do was open her mouth in a soundless scream._

* * *

_The figure was in her dreams again. No longer completely unidentifiable, she could make out softly glowing hands and what appeared to be a smiling mouth with fanged canines on an otherwise featureless face._

_She tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go in the tiny space. The figure drew closer and closer, until it was on top of her. Those unnatural hands gripped her shoulders, burning, searing. Fangs grew larger and larger as they moved closer, and she turned her head away, squeezing her eyes shut. She could feel those horrible teeth, scraping lightly along her face, until they reached her throat. And sank into her skin._

* * *

She'd been having the strange dreams for about a week. They felt so real, and yet, every morning when she woke up, the room was untouched, she was bundled safely in her sheets, and no marks were ever left behind on her skin where they ought to have been, should the dreams have really been real. But even with this knowledge, she couldn't shake the feeling that it meant something. That something was horribly wrong.

She was never one to be afraid of much. But these dreams terrified her.

* * *

_The figure was back. Its glowing hands were haloed in fire, and the fangs dripped red blood. The rest of its features remained blank, or shrouded in shadow. All in all, it appeared a terrifying monster._

_The figure picked up her left wrist. Studied it. There was nothing she could do, frozen in fear and unable to move even if she tried. The touch was almost… gentle, not burning like the hands usually were._

_That gentle touch didn't last long._

_The figure closed its hand round her wrist and squeezed. Fingers burned brighter than they ever had before, and the heat grew to an unbearable level. Silent sobs ripped out of her chest, and tears dripped down her face. The figure leaned forward to catch them with its tongue. The light grew even brighter, the burning even hotter. It felt as though the skin of her wrist were being burned off. Melting down to muscle and veins, blood and bones._

_When the light died down, the figure wasted no time in throwing her into that void again. Falling forever, she could do nothing against the roaming hands that left a burning trail in their wake. The figure mumbled something, the first she'd ever heard of its voice._

_And suddenly, she knew. She knew that voice. She looked up, and she saw him. Saw him as he was, not a shadowed figure with glowing hands and cruel fangs, but a man. A monster of a man._

_"Oh, ma belle petite Sirène," he breathed, "_tu es magnifique._"_

* * *

She had a mission the next day. Which meant she'd have to see the director.

He was the absolute picture of professionalism, acting exactly towards her as he always had before. She tried her best to act just the same as she normally did, which seemed to fool everyone, but inside, her mind was racing. The dreams were just dreams. They had to be, nothing was ever misplaced or out of line when she woke. But why did he appear in her nightmares? Why did he, of all people, show up there?

She needed to _know_. She needed to know what was real and what wasn't. The dreams always felt so _real_, but with them appearing as nothing but her unconscious, she felt like she was losing her grip on reality. She needed to do something to figure it out, because this couldn't go on.

But first, what she needed was a distraction.

* * *

Working alongside two other trained agents, she threw herself into the mission, taking it as a welcome distraction. Normally, she might leave them to figure things out for themselves, shifting into some other form and getting herself in, sometimes having to make multiple trips to get all of her equipment and clothing in. This time, though, she surprised them by joining in their discussion, and helping them formulate a plan on how to get into the prison. They had to get two of their operatives who had been caught out, as they were valuable to Hydra, and so would not be left behind.

She also surprised the other two agents by taking out guards before they could. She'd never really come to like having to kill or harm others, so she'd leave it up to others wherever she could, for the most part, when her temper didn't prevail. This time, though, she was the first to sneak up and knock a guard out, or to shoot him in the leg while the other two discussed the best way to get past. It was a welcome release to the stress and anxiety plaguing her.

As the mission went on, her anger grew. Who was he, the missions director, to haunt her dreams? How dare he do those things to her, even it might just be a nightmare? How dare he act like nothing had ever happened, when something must have been the trigger to cause this?

It was this anger that made her snap. They'd managed to secure their operatives, and were on their way out of the building. They'd been very careful, and no alarms had gone off yet. They made sure to leave no one able to run off and raise an alarm, incapacitating everyone they met on their way out. But when they hit their exit, the cafeteria kitchen's side doors to the dumpsters, they were met with a wall of guards standing outside.

"Turn the prisoners over and disarm yourselves. Submit for arrest and you will be taken in peacefully." One of them, obviously in charge, shouted. The two operatives were already lowering themselves to the ground to kneel, knowing that they were no help unarmed as they were in this situation. Her team members were looking at each other, silently communicating and discussing a plan, a way out of this. There didn't look to be one. They were surrounded, and the guards all had weapons trained on them.

Her team slowly knelt down, setting their guns on the ground in front of them and pushing them so that they slid out of reach. Only the girl remained standing. She looked at each of the Hydra operatives in disgust, all knelt down on the ground, hands behind their heads, submitting to arrest.

"I don't know what you're doing with this crowd, kid, but drop the weapon. We don't want to hurt you if we don't have to." The guard shouted.

"Cowards." She spat, looking back at her Hydra brethren as she stepped forward, discarding her gun to the side. All weapons retrained on her, each of the guards alert. She took another step forward.

None of them knew what hit them. One moment, there was a mere kid, tossing her weapon aside and walking slowly towards them. The next, she began to change. Another moment and a cry went up, screams ringing out as white and black flashed, the scent of blood permeating the air. Guns went off and batons were raised, but it did not help them.

When she was done with them, the girl sat in the middle of her carnage, licking her paw innocently, as if there weren't blood staining her white and black fur. The operatives all stared at her in shock. She simply set her paw down disinterestedly, turned her back on them, and padded off towards where they would be meeting their transport back to the base.

After a moment of dazed silence, the operatives collected their weapons and followed after the snow leopard.

* * *

She hissed as the tweezers went in again. "Well, if you hadn't shifted back before we could get the bullets out of you, you wouldn't be in as much pain right now." The doctor reprimanded her.

She didn't say anything, grinding her teeth at the pain and looking away. She'd been hit with several bullets in the chaos, which wouldn't have been too big a problem, except that when they'd gotten back to the base, when she took the robe left at the mission entrance specifically for when she needed to shift, she hadn't given a thought to the bullet wounds. Of course, wounds remained with her no matter how she shifted, she wasn't a doctor and didn't know enough about herself or her abilities to do something like consciously heal herself, but she'd become human. In doing so, she'd blocked off some of the wounds, and her faster healing factor didn't help the situation any.

Her handler stood by the door, arms crossed, looking on silently. Phaedra looked far too pleased with her pain. She wanted to lash out, do or say something, the rage from earlier had dulled some but she still felt an urge to act out. She knew not to, though, especially not towards her handler. It would only earn her more pain, get her beaten or thrown into cryo-punishment.

"You're done. Go get some dinner and some rest. No strenuous activity for three days, or it may mess up some of your muscles that were hit. I want you on bed rest for the first day, while you're at it." The doctor instructed. She hadn't even noticed when he'd finished pulling all six bullets out and had bandaged her up.

She slid off the table and walked out the door, ignoring her handler as Phaedra followed her.

* * *

_"Ma belle… ...belle… ...sirène…"_ Whispers floated through her mind, half dreaming but not quite, unable to fully rest after two days of doing absolutely nothing while she healed. She shut her eyes tighter, rolling over in her bed. _"Je souhaite… ...que vous… ...n'avez pas… ..mal…"_ A sensation of fingers tracing her skin, dragging gently through her hair. A cold pinprick. Her eyes shot open as she struggled to sit up, fully awake.

"Ah, la belle au bois dormant se réveille." He murmured. She tried to push him away, to kick or hit, but her body betrayed her. He placed a hand against her cheek. "Ma Sirène. Personne ne t'aimera jamais comme moi." His fingers trailed down to her collarbone and all she could do was stare up at him in terror, awake for the first time.

* * *

**Five Months Later**

**February 2012**

The dreams did not stop. After the waking terror that was realizing, for the first time, that he truly was there and was hurting her, she could never remember. After that, after she screamed and sobbed, nearly alerting a passing agent, he visited only in her dreams.

She was no fool. She knew he was there, in the physical world. She understood that he was doing something terrible to her. But she also didn't understand. She was only ten, and even with all of Hydra's education and training, she could never make up for the life experiences and time that an older person might have. Maybe she was a hundred times more mature than the average ten year old. It didn't matter. She was still a child.

She could not fight against him at night while she dreamt, nor could she do it during the day. He would pretend like nothing ever happened, and she became timid around him, afraid of slipping up or letting anyone else around her know. She could not take out her rage on him, so she took it out on her missions and her lessons. She let her instructors hone her rage, teaching her to use it in the most effective ways, teaching her to think through the haze to best use it to her abilities. And she left devastation behind on every mission, taking out her targets and anyone who stood in her way. She was brutal, and she was efficient. Hydra loved it.

And she hated herself for it. She was turning into what Hydra wanted, a weapon of destruction, and her unkempt rage was leading her there. But there didn't seem to be anything else she could do. She could do nothing around him, her rage turned to fear whenever even his title was mentioned. If she didn't find a way to let out her anger, she wasn't sure what would happen. Maybe it would all bottle up and spew out in a display of wreckage and destruction. Or maybe it would tear apart her body like the cryo-punishment did. She didn't want to find out.

At night, she would finger the locket Hydra had never taken away from her. Mama had told her not to lose her fire. She'd do her best not to. As it was, it wasn't dying, just turning into a hideous, blackened thing. Maybe someday she could make it pure again. Mama would want that, she knew. But today was not the day that that would happen.

* * *

**Translations:**

"Oh, ma belle petite Sirène, tu es _magnifique_." - Oh, my beautiful little siren, you are gorgeous.

"Ah, la belle au bois dormant se réveille." - Ah, sleeping beauty wakes.

"Ma Sirène. Personne ne t'aimera jamais comme moi." - My Siren. No one will ever love you like I do."

**What do you think of the story so far? **

**Also thanks everyone who reads, follows, favorites, or reviews on this story! You totally don't have to do that, but it is very much appreciated! \\((^-^))/**


	9. 1:7 - Leave Him Alive

**~Las Vegas, USA~**

**April, 2012**

The girl sighed, twirling the point of a blade on an iron tipped claw. The agent sitting up in the passenger seat of the limo looked back at her anxiously. This was a big mission for her, and no one wanted her to screw it up.

It wasn't like she _wanted_ to screw it up, either, she didn't need the punishment from Hydra or her handler. But she'd have vastly preferred just shifting into some creature, killing this man, and finding the hard drives on her own. None of the other agents liked that idea. This had to be done in secrecy, had to be handled carefully, and worst of all, the target had to be left alive. His continued dealings would be more beneficial to Hydra than his death.

"We're nearly there." The driver called. "Get ready, asset."

She blew out a bored sigh and began changing into the red cocktail dress. Her hair grew out longer, fading into dark brown curls. Her limbs grew longer as her body began to fill out the dress, silky fabric hugging bronze toned skin. She slipped on the gold heels and fingered the matching gold clutch purse. It had been laughably easy to get the outfit. She'd crept in while the woman slept, laced her bedside drink with heavy sedatives, taken the clothing, and left. She wouldn't wake in time to make her meeting, but to everyone else, she'd be there.

"The hotel Mr. Sharpe lives in is just up ahead." The agent in the passenger seat announced, turning back to her. "Getting those hard drives is the most important thing. Leave him alive, please, we can monitor his dealings for some of our other targets' whereabouts. And don't let anyone find out who you are, asset."

"Asset?" The girl asked, fluttering her eyelashes, voice gone deeper and taken on a hispanic accent. "I know of no Asset. I am Giuletta Martinez, and I have a meeting to attend with Mr. Earl Sharpe, if you'll excuse me." And with that, she was stepping out of the limo, leaving an anxious agent behind.

* * *

It was simple to get to the target's room. She simply had to step onto the elevator and take it to his penthouse, for he knew Giuletta was coming. No one made to stop her, seeing a woman who visited about every month, not that they'd stop her anyways, as the man always had various attractive people going up to his room. They labelled him in their minds, which made it that much easier to make his deals and conduct his illicit activity.

He was waiting for her when she arrived, knocking on the door in a specific pattern. "Giuletta!" The gray haired man cried, throwing his arms wide to hug her. "Come in, come in! It's been so long!" She ambled in carelessly, moving further into the room while he closed and locked the door.

The moment he was done, she turned to face him. "Shall we, then?" She asked.

"Eager, are we?" He responded, smirking towards her.

"I only want what is mine, Sharpe." She said innocently.

"After me, then, Giuletta." He sighed, moving past her toward the master bedroom of the penthouse. She followed dutifully, noting every exit and possible weapon as she passed it. It never hurt to have a plan ready.

Safely enclosed in the soundproofed room, the man finally spoke on the real reason she was here. "The shipment will arrive tomorrow, early in the morning, just as you requested. Every last drug, weapon and bit of tech you asked for."

"Thank you, Sharpe. My associates will be very pleased to hear this." She commended. "And the documentation of our watchlist?"

"Here in the penthouse." He responded smoothly. "But that'll require further payment on your end."

"You drive a hard bargain, Sharpe." She said, ruby painted lips curling into a smile.

It didn't take long for Sharpe to fall asleep. Old as he was getting, he tired easily. She laid there silently for a time, listening only to the man's snores and her own racing heart. It hadn't been hard to sedate him, he was so wholly focused on getting what he wanted from her that he never noticed the syringe that emerged from within her arm. He was pretty resistant to it, though, and it took awhile for him to fall unconscious. She wished she could have just killed him. But no.

Carefully slipping out from under the silken sheets, she located Giuletta's cocktail dress and clutch. Sharpe wasn't the smartest man on the planet, and she knew he would keep the drives they needed in a relatively easy place to get to. A quick sweep of the room revealed them to be hidden in a hollow book on a shelf. She dumped the lot of them in the purse, not bothering to remove the ones they didn't need. Hydra could always do with the extra documentation, and it would look less suspicious to the man to have all of them stolen over a few specific ones.

Her earpiece, disguised as a small piercing nestled in the middle of her ear, crackled to life. "Asset, Giuletta has woken and is on her way to the meeting. What is your status?"

"Sharpe is out, and I have the drives. I bugged the room earlier today, so we're all set on that end. The other effects will have kicked in by now, so Sharpe won't remember a thing before four hours ago."

"Good. Now get out of there, asset."

"On it."

* * *

Getting out of the hotel was perhaps the hardest task of the mission, and it was fairly easy. Shifts had changed while she was there, so there were new employees at the front desk and door. As she passed the desk, appearance shifted back to perfection, the front desk worker called out, "Forgotten something, Miss?" His brow was furrowed, looking between her and the elevator bank.

"Oh, just leaving!" She laughed breezily. "That dress I wore up was borrowed from his sister, you know, while she borrowed this one. I simply went to drop off her clothes to him and get my own back."

"Dress?" The worker asked. "Weren't you just wearing a halter top?"

"Oh, look at the time! I simply can not be late!" She dismissed, turning and hurrying out of the hotel's lobby, leaving the confused employee behind. Moving down the sidewalks and shifting imperceptibly as she went, she located the van that was her transport away. The moment that door slid closed, she was peeling off the cocktail dress and its accessories and shifting into her preferred form - snow leopard. Fur was _so _much more comfortable than satin sheets and silk dresses.

* * *

**Bit of a short chapter, but I hadn't really many ideas and wanted to get this chapter out of the way. Next chapter should be a bit longer, and if not, the one after that for sure will be. Those'll actually be the last two chapters of Part One! We'll be moving into the next section of the story soon! I can't wait, I've got a bit more ideas for there, but the chapters will likely be around the same length as the chapters of this part. The bigger sections of the story are Part 3-onward.**

**Thanks everyone who's followed or favorited so far! Looking at things right now, I have forty followers and twenty four favorites, honestly more than I had ever hoped to get on anything. So thank you everyone who's been reading this story, thanks for liking my stuff enough to stick around B)))**


	10. 1:8 - Cages

**Merry (late) Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Yule (yuletide yeetings, y'all)! I've been putting off this chapter for sooo long because I simply did not know how to write it, but some friends helped me put together an angry writing playlist lol. I've also been pretty busy with work and school, but now that I'm already halfway through christmas break, I finally managed to get this chapter out. Hope y'all like it~**

* * *

**~Charlottesville Hydra Base, Virginia~**

**November 2012**

_I'll be in the foothills, catch me if you can._

That's all that the note said. No mention of why she would be out there, no clue for what she was planning. She hoped he would be curious enough to follow her, rather than calling an alarm at the asset's absence from where she should be.

* * *

Four hours and thirty two minutes, she had been waiting in the foothills. This shouldn't have worried her as much as it did. She'd left as early as possible, sneaking in and out of the base to make sure she had everything she would need, and to set up camp in the foothills. He would not see the note until later in the night, when he visited her room, and then it would take him some time to get to the foothills, as humans could only go so fast, compared to someone who could shift her body into any sort of creature.

But still, she worried. Hydra had taught her never to fear, except for fearing them and their punishments, and to always obey and do what she was told, no exceptions. Out here, though, there was no one telling her what to do, and no one to control her. Sneaking out had actually been laughably easy, they'd grown lax around her after years of obeying them.

A twig snapped behind her, but she did not look up from the fire she sat cross-legged in front of.

"What fun is a chase if you do not run, ma siréne?"

"How confident you are. No army to capture me back to Hydra?" She asked, carefully monitoring his movements as he stepped closer to her. She might not have eyes in the back of her head right now, but being a shapeshifter sure had its perks when it came to her senses and sensing movement in the environment and people around her.

"I need no army to tame you, siréne." He laughed. She cocked her head to the side.

"That's too bad." She mocked sadness. "It would have been such fun to tear apart any agent you tried to throw at me."

He took another step closer, but she made no move to turn or to acknowledge it. He was only a few feet away, now. He did not speak, but she heard the rustle of clothing as he slid a hand into his jacket.

She let out a dramatic sigh. "I guess I'll just have to settle for you, then."

Before he could even know what was happening, his feet were knocked out from under him and his body was flying through the air. There was a crash as he slammed into a tree and fell to the ground.

"What-" He let out a choking cough, breath knocked out of his lungs by the impact.

She stood from her seated position and his eyes widened in realization. "You forget what I am." The long, scaled tail previously hidden against the ground swished airily behind her.

"You are but a child." He said, pulling himself to his feet.

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow at him, wicked fangs growing from her mouth and glistening in the moonlight. He briefly flinched, but his confidence was winning out as he stepped towards her.

"A young, weak, naive, powerless child." He punctuated each word with another step towards her. Already he was reaching into his jacket again.

"I wouldn't exactly call myself powerless." She intoned, cruel claws curling outwards from her fingertips. The tail hanging behind her was lashing back and forth now.

"You don't scare me, siréne." He said, but his confidence was wavering. "I know you and what you are. I am not afraid of you."

"No?" She asked innocently, fur and scales taking place of human skin. "I'll have to try harder, then."

"What _are_ you?" He asked, stumbling back a step, horror in his eyes.

Gold eyes glinted dangerously as she stepped forward, already a head taller than him. "I told you already, did I not?" He took another trembling step back.

"I d-don't-" He tripped on the upended root of a withered tree and nearly fell to the ground in his haste to move back. Soon, he was cornered, back pressed against the rock cliff of a hill.

"I am exactly what Hydra wanted, though maybe not what they expected." She growled. "I am a shapeshifter, and I can take on _any_ form I so choose, any form imaginable."

In the blink of an eye, she was again a child, twirling a dagger in her fingers, a sinister smile on her lips. "I can be anything." She mused. "And by the time I am done with you, you will be nothing."

"Please-" His voice was quiet.

"Please _what_?" She spat in anger. "Please stop, please stop hurting me, please go away, please leave me alone, please get out of my head and stop haunting my nightmares?"

She took another step toward him. "Don't worry. There will be no more nightmares to speak of because the next time you lose consciousness, it will be the last time you close your eyes."

"Why?" He asked. "Why are you doing this?"

She stopped in her tracks, glaring at him. "_Why am I doing this?_" Her voice got louder with every word. "You have done _nothing_ but hurt me. You have caused me more harm and strife than even Phaedra, the woman who hates me more than_ anyone else_ on this planet! Every night, every haunting nightmare, every phantom burn and fear, leaving me unable to tell reality from dream, leaving me feeling detached and mad, not knowing up from down nor life from fantasy! Every moment of panic or anxiety when you are near, every ounce of anger built up for what you have done to me. No more. All of it, gone. All of it will go. I just have to get rid of you."

The laugh that echoed from his lips was bitter. "You really think that by killing me, everything will just go away?" He asked. "You are nothing but a delusional child. You do not know how the world works. I might be gone, but the rest will stay, eating away inside of you, destroying you from within. Oh, don't I know that from experience."

"Maybe I have been alive for less time than you, but do not think I know nothing. Hydra has made sure that I have never had a childhood." She tilted her head, scrutinizing the cornered man for a moment. "And no, a simple death won't make it all go away. But oh, I'm not planning on killing you. Not right now. No, first I'm going to have a little fun."

His eyes widened in terror, and nothing could muffle the scream that burst from his lips as she shifted.

* * *

Hydra didn't find her until three days later. She left her campsite immediately, putting out the fire, covering the embers, ashes and bones with a suitable layer of dirt and rocks.

She didn't stay long in the foothills, either. That would be the first place Hydra looked, as it was far enough away that the missions director had taken one of the wranglers, which were all equipped with trackers for mission purposes. So she took on the form of a bird and made her way into a town about an hour's worth of flying away.

Exploring was kind of fun, actually. She'd never been able to do something as simple as that before. And she could go anywhere, get in anywhere. It was too easy to slip into a small boutique in one form, gather a few different sized outfits, and slip out again in another form, hurrying away before they could figure out why the alarms were going off. From there, all she had to do was change forms and outfits to fit her purpose.

She went as a child into a park, claimed a swing for herself and spun on the merry-go-round until her vision was so blurry she thought she might go blind indefinitely. She took on the form of a teenager and snuck into a movie theater, changing her features every time she moved into a new screening room to watch another. She shifted into an adult, and wandered stores and ate at restaurants and bars, slipping out when the clerks and waiters had their backs turned. At night, she curled up on a secluded rooftop, taken on the form of a feline, fur keeping her warm and cozy against the chill of the night as she slept.

She knew it wouldn't last forever. She could hope, but Hydra would never give her up that easily. They had their ways of finding her and making her obedient, she knew she couldn't hide from them forever. Didn't mean she couldn't give them one hell of a fight when they came for her, though.

* * *

She was in a restaurant when they approached her. Dining alone, she was seated in a booth in the inner section of the restaurant, a partition to her left separating the outer section of the restaurant from the area she was in. She was halfway through her meal when a figure stood poised at the edge of the table.

"Long time, huh?" The agent asked, politeness masking true intentions to everyone around them.

"I suppose it has been. Longer than I've ever been away." Technically not true, but it was the longest she'd ever been away of her own volition, because she'd never left on her own, never had the motive or courage to do it before.

"Have you seen Armand recently?" The agent asked. "I hear he has left."

"Last I saw him was in the conference room. That is where I always meet him, no?" She asked, arching a brow at the agent, keeping up the charade. For sure, they knew she was behind the man's disappearance, though what they might do to her for it, who knew. Hydra could be strange when it came to punishment for things such as that - they most definitely would punish her for leaving and trying to escape, but they might not care about the rest. They rather liked it when she acted on her anger and rash impulses. They didn't need to know that this had been a long time coming, then, that it was not simply a fed up impulse with the man who ordered her around perhaps the most, being the missions director and basically dictating her life even in training and some of the experimentation Hydra's scientists performed on her.

"Well, it's about time you come on home. They miss you." The agent stepped to the side, making room for her to exit the booth. "Your meal has been taken care of." _Come now, without a fuss. Hydra wants you back at base._

"I think I'd like to stay awhile, actually." She mused, twirling the spoon in her soup and sipping at it delicately. _I'm not going back. Not without a fight._

The smile on the agent's face was more clearly forced, now. He motioned with his hand, and another agent stepped into her view. "Why don't you step outside with us?" She suggested coldly.

"What, not going to call me by any name?" She asked her handler mockingly. "Not asset? Not brat or bastard child? Well, I might be a bastard child, but I am _your_ bastard child." Phaedra glared harshly at her.

"Outside. Now." The woman ground out.

"It's not that hard, you know. To call me by my name. Just two little syllables. Elise. Say it with me, now. Uh-leese. Not that hard, is it?" She mocked.

"Make me drag you out of here and things will not be pretty." Phaedra threatened.

"Oh, I had a feeling you'd say something like that." She exclaimed, pulling cool metal from within the folds of her skirt. "Too bad I prefer things messy."

The agent standing beside her handler never knew what hit him, dropping dead to the ground before he could register the bullet between his eyes. She pointed the gun at Phaedra next.

"Trying to shoot me would not be a wise decision, Asset." In the background of their little bubble, people were screaming and general chaos was bubbling in the restaurant.

"Oh, I know." She tossed the gun aside. "I only had one bullet left, anyways. Besides, where's the fun in guns?" What fun was it, when she had so many natural weapons available to her?

"Your punishment will be severe." Phaedra said steelily, grabbing her wrist as she exited the booth to stand behind her. The girl walked along with her handler, humming a happy tune as they made to exit the restaurant. No one tried to stop them, especially not with the unnerving way the girl's features never seemed to solidify into one specific, recognizable look.

"So, how many men have you brought to hunt me down?" She asked. "How valuable, and how dangerous, do you guys deem me to be?"

Phaedra just shoved her roughly out the doors of the restaurant. She stumbled to a stop, before standing straight and surveying what lay in front of her.

Fifty or so agents, all with weapons already raised or ready to be drawn. There appeared to be no civilians in the street, which was good. She wasn't that far gone, that she would delight in the loss of innocent lives. Hydra, however? She let out a loud laugh and turned to look at her handler.

"You're going to need to get a bigger one." Her line of vision began to lift as she shifted slowly, putting painstaking detail into every inch of the form she stitched together.

"What?" Phaedra demanded angrily.

"I've grown too big for your cage. Maybe I won't be able to stay out for long, but it's going to take one hell of a fight to throw me back into that prison."


	11. 1:9 - Don't Be Alarmed

_Heya, the chapter after this one was really short but it was the last before Part II starts, so I took it down and added it to the bottom of this one, before reposting this chapter so people would see it! You don't have to reread, nothing changes, just scroll down to the last section for the newest piece!_

* * *

**~Hydra Base: Siberia~**

**February, 2014**

The pealing of alarm bells roused her from her slumber. She lifted her head and looked around warily to see the other two agents rushing off of the plane and into the base. Neither of them stopped to make sure she went with them. She supposed she should probably make her way to the debriefing room, as per usual protocol after missions. But she didn't quite know what to make of the alarms.

Well, no matter what was happening, they'd punish her if she lingered too long on the plane. She didn't particularly want to deal with that, not after a week-long mission.

She kept a hand resting on the gun at her belt as she walked cautiously into the base. There was no one around as she made her way to the debriefing room and peeked inside. Empty. She turned and started down the hall once again.

She figured out where everyone was very quickly when she entered the great hall, a huge, open space in the center of the headquarters. Everyone was rushing around to protect against whatever threat had tripped the alarms. No one seemed to even notice the girl as she drifted through the crowd, trying to figure out what to do. She didn't see her handler, or Colonel Karpov, or any of her trainers, so she couldn't very well ask where they wanted her. She was just about to turn around and try the debriefing room again, or perhaps a conference room, when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back harshly.

"The hell are you doing, asset?" Her handler demanded. The woman looked absolutely furious.

The girl just gave her an expressionless look.

"Get your ass to your room and do not come out until you are told to by either me or the Colonel!" Phaedra demanded, shoving her away roughly. The girl nodded quickly and slipped the crowds of Hydra agents and scientists towards her small room.

* * *

The waiting was the worst of it. It had been two hours since she'd gone to her room, and outside, she could still hear people rushing about. No one seemed to know why the alarm had been tripped, and they were only just now starting to calm down, though they were still on high alert. The girl remained sitting on her cot in the corner of the room, lights off, waiting for someone to come get her and tell her what to do. She could wait for a lot longer if need be, she'd waited seventeen hours once for a mission and could do more, but when she didn't have an inkling of what was going on, it made her slightly anxious.

The sounds from the great hall finally quieted, another hour and a half later. With her hearing enhanced by the injection treatments they'd periodically given her all her life, she knew there were few people still out there. Everyone seemed to have gone back to whatever their normal jobs entailed. But why hadn't anyone come for her?

Her question was answered a couple of minutes later when footsteps sounded, and the door swung open to reveal Colonel Karpov. "Debriefing room. Now." He ordered. She scrambled to her feet to follow him across the base.

* * *

Once the debriefing was done, the other two agents also showing to tell their accounts of the mission, the Colonel turned her over to her handler. The woman didn't even try to hide her sick pleasure as she yanked her out of the room and towards what they called simply 'the chamber.'

Upon arrival, she was shoved towards the middle of the room and ordered to strip. She did so obediently, knowing that to protest here, to protest this, of all things, would only lengthen the punishment. She stepped into the pod as it opened, unmoving as the restraints were placed around her limbs and neck.

"Cryostasis punishment for failure to comply and failure to report immediately after mission for debriefing." Phaedra said, and the pod clicked shut with a note of finality.

* * *

She would _never_ get used to Hydra's favorite form of punishment.

How could she, when it went against every instinct she had? When it was the absolute worst torment Hydra would ever be able to inflict upon her? It was in her DNA, the ability to shift, and she couldn't go long without relieving that fiery song in her blood.

She could endure remaining in a single form for a mission because she knew that when it was over, she would have the freedom to shift whenever she wanted. She could always shift the little, unnoticeable things, too. And clothes, those definitely helped. Gave her a semblance of normalcy, helped her feel more… contained within herself, soothed the urge to change, if only somewhat.

Sixteen hours later, she was released from the cryostasis pod. She fell to her hands and knees, chest heaving as she took in huge gulps of breath, all of her features rapidly shifting as she tried to calm her racing heart.

Phaedra just watched her disdainfully. "Get dressed and get to your room, asset." Without another word, she turned and left, leaving the girl alone.

* * *

A light knocking at the door was what woke the girl from her sleep this time. She was surprised, for a moment, that she hadn't heard any footsteps approaching, but the cryostasis always wore her out, especially when they used it as punishment, rather than storage.

The light knocking came again, but the girl didn't move. No one ever knocked, not in Hydra. They didn't care whether she was dressed or asleep or whatever else, they opened the door and ordered her around. And it was the dead of night. No one ever came for her in the middle of the night. Well, almost no one.

In the darkness, she could see the knob begin to turn slowly. She shut her eyes quickly, slowing her breathing. If they thought she was asleep, she might have the upper hand. Footsteps entered the room, and she could sense a figure coming toward her. A hand rested on her shoulder, shaking her awake.

The girl didn't respond to the figure. Seeming to think the coast was clear, she felt the figure scoop her up so that they were carrying her. She used that moment to strike out, hitting the man in the throat as she threw herself away from him. He let out a yelp of surprise, stumbling back. The girl immediately had her gun out from under her pillow, pointing it at the man, finger resting lightly on the trigger.

"Давай, девочка." The man told her.

"Зачем?" She asked, not moving to lower the gun.

"Сработала тихая сигнализация, вы должны быть перемещены." He told her. But there was a glimmer of unease in his brown eyes as he glanced subtly around.

"Я так не думаю." The girl said. "The silent alarm pertains only to critical areas such as the research center and experimental labs. I was placed here precisely because the very loud audible alarm would alert those in the vicinity and get my handler down here to keep me under control while they dealt with the threat. So no, I'm not going with you."

The man growled angrily. "You don't have a choice in the matter." He said, taking a menacing step forward.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." The girl told him, finger tightening over the trigger. She didn't give him a moment to respond before pressing down all the way.

The man stumbled back, letting out a howl of pain, hand clutching the shoulder that was now pouring blood. "You bitch!" He cried. Somewhere in the base, the alarm began wailing and shouts arose.

The girl just smirked at the man. He gave her a hateful glare, and suddenly, she was pinned against the wall, gun on the floor. But the man was still standing by the door.

"What _are_ you?" She demanded. The man just gave her a smirk, and it was the last thing she saw before the world tilted and went black.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, the girl found she had a sideways view of a man handing over a large pouch to the man from before. An attempt to sit up told her she was handcuffed to the bunk she was lying on.

"Thank you ever so much, Havenbane." The new man said cordially.

"Whatever gets me paid." The man from earlier said, glancing into the bag. The girl noticed with a smug sense of pride that his shoulder was bandaged up and somewhat restricting his movement. "And it's all in silvers?"

"Yes, all of it is there, in silvers, no golds or coppers. As requested." The man assured him.

"Good." Havenbane said.

"Now, you're welcome to remain here for the night, the hangar has an open space, and the medical ward can take a look at your shoulder if you'd like to rest and heal up before you get back on the road. I hear your ship ran into some damage on the way, they can work on that too, if you'd like." The new man offered.

"I might just take you up on that offer." Havenbane said. He glanced over to see the girl watching them. "Looks like she's up. Had a bit of trouble getting her out of there, but she should be fine."

The new man watched as the man from before came over and released her from the bunk. When she was free, she made to hit out at him, but he just grabbed her wrist with a chuckle. "C'mon girl. It's time to get you off of my ship. I've got places to be, and well, this is your new home." He yanked her along by her arm as he and the new man walked off the ship. He let go of her the moment she was off the ship, and went back in on his own, closing up the hatch behind him.

The new man was tall, and everything about him screamed kind and regal as the girl looked at him. He knelt down so that he was at eye level with the girl. "Hello." He greeted. She didn't respond, and he frowned. "I'm Duke Peres. What's your name?"

"Who the hell are you and why am I here?" The girl demanded.

The Duke frowned. "I suppose you wouldn't know, would you?" He asked. "I'm your father. I was visiting Earth when I met your mother."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" The girl snorted, raising an eyebrow.

He frowned again, then a thought struck. "You can shift, can you not?" He asked. "You get that from me." To convince the girl, he shifted his facial features to match the man that had just left, and then back to his own.

The girl didn't say anything, watching the man curiously. "I know you must have questions, and they will be answered in due time." The Duke told her. "But, for now, let's get you cleaned up and into some clothes befitting a lady of your status."

* * *

Translations:

*Давай, девочка. _Come along, girl._

**Давай, девочка? _Why?_

***Сработала тихая сигнализация, вы должны быть перемещены. _The silent alarm has been tripped, you are to be moved._

****Я так не думаю._ I don't think so._

* * *

**Heya, I'm back! Been awhile since I've posted, so sorry about that. You'd think quarantine would give me more time or inspiration to write, but nope, everything sucks. I am gonna _try_ to write a bunch more while I'm off, but we'll see how that goes. **

**What do you think of the chapter? Of the story so far? I'd like to think it's decent enough, and that it's headed in a good direction. Speaking of, we're at the end of Part I, and Part II will be starting very shortly! Maybe I'll have better inspiration for that than I did for this lol.**

**Thanks to everyone who's read this story, followed or favorited it, or reviewed it! No one's obligated to do any of those things (though I appreciate very greatly) so good on you for doing one or more of them!**


	12. 2:1 - A Whole New World

**Good Love Lingers On**

Writing Desk's Raven

_Part II_

The Duke

* * *

**~House Peres, Sillistra~**

**February, 2014**

If there was one thing the girl hated above all else, it was a loss of control. Hydra had always had its crushing grip on her, and she'd never really had _true_ freedom in her life, but even Hydra didn't feel the need to bathe and dress her themselves. She'd tried pushing the maid away, but her grip was like iron as she stripped her clothes away and shoved her into an iron claw-foot tub. She fought even harder when the woman went to unclasp the necklace she wore, and the maid let it be.

It was humiliating, sitting there in the steaming water, able to do nothing for herself as the maid scrubbed her hair and skin clean. She wasn't even allowed to towel herself off after, either, nor was she allowed to dress herself in the simple white gown supplied by another maid. The girl had no problems with modesty or immodesty, Hydra had taken that away from her long ago, but this was downright _ridiculous_.

"You are ready." The maid said finally, stepping away from the girl, and she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror attached to the wall nearby. The white gown hugged her skin toward the top, falling loosely in pleats as it transitioned to the skirt. Her hair was done up in an elaborate low braided bun, and her eyelids and lips were painted in sparkling gold.

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it when the maid handed her a cloth bundle, holding a finger to her lips. She opened it warily, only to look up in surprise when she found it to contain weapons. Two daggers and a handgun, to be precise. The maid helped her to slip on a thigh sheath for the gun, and slid the daggers into the boots she wore, not saying a word about it. Whatever the reason these were being given to her, and likely not under orders to do so, if the gesture for quiet meant anything, she was glad to have weapons on her in a strange new place. Hydra had entrusted a single handgun to her not long ago, but it had been left behind when she was kidnapped from the base.

Before she could thank her, the maid's expression slipped back to neutral and the door swung open. The man from before entered, throwing his arms wide. "There she is!" He called happily. "My, you look stunning, darling. Come, let's greet our guests."

She didn't really have any other options, so the girl followed him out, walking beside him as he led her through winding halls of soaring architecture, floor to ceiling windows looking out at gardens and courtyards, and many, many priceless looking artifacts and paintings. Much of it all looked the same, but she made careful note of any small differences she saw, as well as marking down the route they'd taken in her mind.

"So, what's this all about?" The girl finally asked, as they approached a large, ornate set of double doors. "Why am I here? Why come for me now?"

"You are my daughter." He told her. "I only just recently learned of your existence, so I hired Havenbane to find you."

That didn't sound quite right, but she didn't have much information to work with, right now. And who knew, maybe it was possible he had only just recently found out about her. She wasn't stupid, she knew she wasn't on Earth anymore.

The doors were pulled open by a pair of guards, and they walked out into a garden full of vibrant flowers, perfectly cut grass, and majestic stone fountains spouting water from the lips of fish, dripping from the eyes of mermaids, and pouring from vases held by fair maidens. At the very center of this garden was a small clearing, occupied by two men, with seven guards scattered about, milling around.

"Ah, Norwyn, there you are!" The older of the two men said, holding out a hand to him. They shook, and he pulled the girl in front of him, hands resting on her shoulders. She let out a noise of protest, but it was ignored.

"Hello, men." He greeted them. He gestured towards each person as he introduced them. "Duke Orion Westoros, head of House Westoros, and his son, Lord Raines Westoros. This is my darling daughter, Lady Deja Peres."

"Deja-what now?" The girl asked, turning her head to give him an indignant look.

"It is customary, here," he said simply, "for a lady to bear the name of a deceased relative. Deja Peres was my mother."

"You did not have a name before, did you, girl?" Orion asked her. "You came from that earthen group named after the many-headed monster, did you not?"

"What is it to you?" She shot back, crossing her arms.

"Now, darling, we don't need to start any arguments with our guests. Why don't you sit tight for a moment? I have someone coming to give you a tour, I have some business I need to take care of with the Westoros men." Peres interjected. "Ah, look, there he is, now."

She turned to see a boy walking towards them, probably nineteen by the looks of it, but who knew when it came to her apparent father and the rest of the people on this planet? As he drew nearer, she narrowed her eyes at him. There was something about him…

"Morning, father." He said with a short bow. He nodded at the other two men. "Duke Orion, Lord Raines." He then glanced to her, and the look on his face spelt amusement.

"I know you." She said. "I _know_ I know you. Who are you?"

The three men were by now watching her, interested. The look on Orion's face seemed calculating. "My name is Nicholas Peres." The boy offered. "We're half siblings, though father says family is family, no matter how much blood you share."

"I've met you before, I swear it." She shook her head, clearing her thoughts and trying to remember. She was sure she'd never seen his face before, but there was something so _familiar_ about him. Then it hit her. "...Professor?"

"It's good to see you again, Elise." He smiled. He turned to Peres. "She's pretty good, for how young she is. Took me forty-three years to be able to sense others."

"You're just over twelve, dear, right?" Peres asked, looking to her. She nodded, looking questioningly between them. "Quite a talent that is, then! It usually is many years before one of us can sense when another is near, much less who specifically it is, especially with others of us around."

"Yeah, so, what are you talking about?" She asked.

Peres laughed. "I know it is a lot to take in, and so soon at once. Nicholas will show you round and answer your questions while I tend to business with these men."

* * *

As it turned out, this planet, called Silistra, wasn't very different from Earth. Something like a smaller, much greener, less polluted, and less water covered Earth. They were also set slightly back if you went by earthen standards - there was no technological age, but then again, they had their own ways of doing things. The planet was split into many various Houses, each owning a territory of land. Those not born into a house lived under the rule of whichever territory they resided in. Some were better places to live than others.

The House Peres wasn't one of the oldest houses, but it wasn't one of the youngest, either. The family came into their rule when the shapeshifting dna showed up, giving the first of the Peres line a very valuable gift. That was another thing - each of the Houses had a gift that set them apart from the others. Theirs, of course, was the shapeshifting. The House Westoros gift was related to lightning and storm-making, and they were one of the first houses, having been there for the beginning of the planet's territorial divide.

As for the girl herself, well, their father visited Earth about every forty five years or so. Hydra lined up one of their missions to coincide with his visit and his dealings with another non-earthen residing there, and she'd been born. Half earthen, half silistran. Her brother had been doing a stint in Hydra to gather information for a deal with another house, and he'd known right away when he'd seen her what she was. So he'd shifted and deceived and gotten himself a position as her teacher. Her father, on the other hand, hadn't actually known about her until recently, just as he'd said. Her brother didn't know how well or how long she would hold up among Hydra, and his business on Earth had kept him on the move for a long time, so long that their father learned about her through random gossip in a tavern on another planet. Then it was a long process to find Havenbane and hire him to retrieve her.

* * *

There was a knock on the door. After the tour and answering her questions, Nicholas had brought her to a spacious, elegant room and told her it would be hers. His was down the hall, and their father's was elsewhere in the large, palace-like home. Not many others lived there, their house being on the smaller side in terms of family size.

She slid a hand to her boot, ready to pull out a dagger in a moment's notice. The door opened and a maid, the same one as before, slipped inside, closing it behind her. "The Duke wishes me to get you ready for dinner." She said with a curtsy.

Of course. She'd long changed into a tunic and pants she'd found in the wardrobe, taken off the makeup they'd painted onto her face and let her hair down, but everyone in this place seemed to favor being poised and proper.

She sighed and let the maid pick out a green dress from the wardrobe, setting it out on the bed and pushing her lightly into the seat at the vanity. She picked up a hairbrush and began running it through the girl's loosely curly red hair.

"Duke Norwyn says your name is Deja, yet Lord Nicholas refers to you as Elise. What is it you would have me call you, my lady?" The maid asked, expertly pinning her hair up.

"The first name I chose for myself was Elise. I loved it as a child, but it does not feel like it fits me that much, not anymore." She pondered for a moment. "Just call me Deja, for now. What should I call you?"

"She was a lovely woman, my lady, you'd have been fond of her." The maid responded. "My own name is Lilla, but you may call me whatever you wish."

"That's a very pretty name, Lilla." She told her, and the maid smiled. "And feel no need to call me a lady. I've only just learned about any of this and it's still all very weird to me."

"As you wish, Deja."

* * *

The dining hall was huge. Roughly bigger by half the size of the main hall in the Hydra base she'd been taken from, back in Siberia, and that was saying something, considering the size of that base. This hall was much more decadent, however, elegantly decorated and filled with several long dining tables. Likely for functions, she would guess, but who knew. Maybe they just liked the proof of their money and power.

After being directed to the hall by Lilla, she found herself seated beside her brother, who was at the right of their father, seated at the head of one table. The two visiting men were to his left, the Duke immediately beside him and his son across from her.

"How did you find the tour, dear? Nicholas has long been interested in the history of this place." Peres asked.

"It was informative." She said simply, shrugging.

"I should hope," he chuckled, "as you've never been to Silistra before." She didn't respond, idly looking round, and he turned to Nicholas.

"Will we not be seeing Lyra tonight?" He inquired curiously.

"The baby woke with a fever, and has been fussy all afternoon. I would have stayed with them, but she insisted I go to dinner and help entertain our guests." Nicholas said, a caring look in his eyes.

"Have you taken Emersyn to the infirmary at all?" Peres asked, brow drawing in concern. The visiting Duke was listening with detached interest, while his son just looked bored.

"Her doctor said it should be gone by tomorrow, but if not, to bring her back. They gave her some medicine, but I believe it's just Lyra's gifts kicking in, her family always did manifest very early on."

The Duke nodded. "Well, I hope the child's alright, in any case."

"Who are Lyra and Emersyn?" Deja asked, looking at Nicholas beside her.

"My fiancée and ten month old daughter." He said proudly. "Lyra and Emersyn Shay."

"Lyra… Shay?" She asked slowly. He gave her a soft smile, nudging her shoulder with his.

"My family."

The visiting Duke gave her a curious look. "You know the name?" He asked. "The House Shay is but a small one, neighboring these lands."

Deja shook her head. "I… Nevermind. It was a long time ago." She clenched a fist under the table, and Nicholas set a hand on hers. She relaxed the hand, laying it flat against her leg. Now was not the time to reminisce on Hydra and get angry. How long had it been since she'd been gone, anyways? She was taken in the night, and it had been sometime midday when she'd gotten off the ship. It was dinner now, and judging by the light outside, and the planet's similarities to Earth, she guessed it was probably sometime around six, but she couldn't be sure. Probably sixteen or so hours. Not a long time, but there'd been such an influx of new information and people and places that she felt like entire days had passed.

"I'll bring you to meet them in the morning." Nicholas offered. "If that's alright with you, Father?" He looked to the duke.

"Of course!" He agreed. "Let her get acquainted with everyone, and with the area. It will make the festivities that much better, and it will give me a chance to continue on preparations for the next couple days."

"Festivities?" She asked.

"Nendrela is an important holiday here on Silistra, taking place during the third full moon of the year. It lasts from dusk to dusk, and is associated with grounding, madness, love, and expressions of forgiveness. Some of our traditions and activities include the private signing of contracts, athletics competitions, marriages, and feasts." The duke explained, glancing toward the Westoros men for a moment as he spoke.

"Why's the full moon of March so important?" She asked curiously.

"Silistra's calendar is a bit different than Earth's, so calling it March would be inaccurate. The correct term for our third month is Eesis, but during the first Nendrela, the gifts of the original houses first awoke. Before that, we were more akin to the humans of earth, or the inhabitants of the extinct planet Bayleana." He explained. "Nendrela is a time of wonder and strange occurrences, where anything can happen, should the gods deem it so. A truly mystical three days and nights, we celebrate our heritage and give thanks to the powers that bestowed them upon us."

"It sounds pretty cool." She responded. It did sound fun, even if she was a bit skeptical of the mysticism and gods part. But hey, she was a damn shapeshifter, it had to have come from somewhere, and the people who knew more than she did about it believed it came from gods. Who was she to argue that when she had no other information on the topic, and no particular care for finding it, either?

"Well, since we appear have everyone here," Duke Westoros suggested, "why don't we get started on dinner?"

Duke Peres nodded. "Yes, if Lyra and Emersyn will not be joining us, then we have everyone." He agreed. He beckoned to a waiting servant, who slipped out of the dining room. A minute later, carts were being rolled in, covered in various foods wafting delicious scents. As the food was served out to them, Peres spoke again, lifting a glass. "A toast, to our guests, Duke Olipher Westoros and Lord Raines Westoros, and my lovely daughter, Deja Peres, turned over to her rightful place here on Silistra."

* * *

**I finally got this chapter out! It gave me a lot of trouble but I finally got past the block enough to write a decent sized chapter (I usually aim for 3000 or so words, this chapter's 2700), and now I've got some good ideas for chapters moving forward, so that'll be good. I hope y'all like it.**

**Just wanna say a huge thank you to anyone who's read, reviewed, favorite, or followed any of my works. Makes me super happy to see people interacting with my stuff, and it's a huge confidence boost in my writing lol. Of course, you're not obligated to do anything, but if you could drop a review to let me know what you think of the story, and any feedback or (constructive only, please) criticism you might have, it would be much appreciated. **


	13. A Note

Hey guys, Writing Desk's Raven here.

It's been awhile, I know, and I feel bad for not updating. I just wanted to drop a note real quick to say that while I am not abandoning the story, it is going to be a bit longer before I post any updates. Call it a mini-hiatus or something. I'll try not to be too long, I swear, but 2020's been a hell of a year and I've had a lot of sudden changes recently that I need to deal with.

I was supposed to be leaving for college in two weeks, we had every plan set, I had my last shift at work, I even talked to my roommate online a little bit. Then, today, the school released an email, saying that they had made the difficult decision to go fully remote for the fall semester, hopeful bringing students on campus for the spring. Thing is, my major is very hands on and experience based, and the classes just aren't worth it to do remotely. So, I'm staying home for the year instead, going to keep working (thankfully, my boss loves me and we had already planned for me to come back over the break between semesters, so it's not a problem for me to keep my job).

With all that said, I am very much going to try to keep in touch with my creative side, don't want to let that part of me die or go unsued and then show up to an arts college in a year with no idea how to art, so I'll do my best to keep writing. I just need a little time to come to terms with everything going on.

As time goes on, I'll be posting updates and news about all of my stories over on my tumblr, writing-desks-raven. Check there for estimated chapter arrivals, news on new stories, or just to ask any questions or anything. I'll be doing my best to get back into the story and get more chapters coming soon.

Thank you, everyone who does read and follow/favorite/review my writing, it means a lot to me and I don't want to let you guys down. I refuse to abandon this story, so I'll be back eventually, and hopefully soon.

~Writing Desk's Raven


	14. 2:2 - Silistran Livin'

**Finally got this one out! It's about half the length I usually go for, but I have a bit of action planned starting next, which I would like to start on a fresh chapter. **

* * *

When she opened her eyes, she was expecting the darkness. Yesterday had been so strange, so different from life as she knew it within Hydra. There was no way it could have actually happened.

...Or maybe it _was _real, and she just had a blanket tangled around her body from fitful sleep, blocking her view of the room as the maid Lilla drew back large curtains to let the morning sun in.

"Good morning, Lilla." She greeted the woman as she turned from the now open curtains.

"Good morning, Miss Deja." The maid greeted, curtsying to her. "Duke Norwyn sends his apologies, he has meetings to attend about the festivities next week and will not be joining you for breakfast today. Lord Nicholas will instead accompany you to his home, in order to introduce you to his family."

"Thank you for letting me know." She said gratefully.

"Anything you wish." Lilla curtsied again, before exiting the room.

* * *

As it turned out, her brother did not live in the manor with their father. As the heir of the House Peres, he should have, but her brother preferred a small homestead on the border between their territory and that of the House Shay, his fiancée's home. Lyra preferred the small house amongst the rolling hills due to its proximity and reminder of her own home in the hilly Shay territory.

Besides, her father would be around for a long time. Those among the more powerful houses had, along with their individual gifts, an almost everlasting youth. He would be around for a long time, so her brother had some time to spend wherever he liked, and Lyra, once married to him, would gain that youth.

She had actually questioned that - Lyra would receive his youth upon marriage? Nicholas had answered that marriages here were important and sacred, and that the ceremony did more than bind two people legally, it bound them spiritually. Gifts and magic mingled, and what belonged to one became the other's. As generations went on, however, the stronger House's gifts would remain more prominent, while others faded away. So, while Nicholas and Lyra's daughter may have a strong mix of their shapeshifting and fire abilities, Emersyn's own children one day would find natural talent in shifting and have less of a grasp on the element of fire.

* * *

Currently sitting on a comfortable couch in the first floor's living room, Deja was idly looking around while she waited for Nicholas to return. He'd shown her inside then gone to get his family for her to meet.

It didn't take long for him to return. He had his arm around a young woman holding a small baby. "Here they are, the women of the hour. Lyra, this is Elise. Or Deja." He turned to look at her questioningly. "Do you still go by Elise? Or would you prefer something else?"

"Elise was a child's fantasy." She said, shaking her head. "A child's fantasy I no longer hold onto, and haven't for a long time."

Nicholas gave her a sad look. Before he could say anything though, Lyra spoke. "Hello Deja." She said softly. "It is good to meet you. Nic speaks highly of his time with you on earth."

"He's spoken highly of you as well, at least from the very little time I have spent here." She returned. Lyra seemed very kind, genuine. Deja thought she might like to get to know her.

Lyra gave her a smile before moving to sit beside her. She held her arms out towards her. "Would you like to hold Emersyn?"

She hesitated, looking over to her brother. She was being trusted to hold a child? After everything she'd done in Hydra? Everyone she'd hurt, killed? She wasn't sure she would trust her own self around children given the chance to ever be around them, or god forbid, have her own. Surely, they didn't trust her with their daughter, not with how much she could tell they cared for the girl. But all Nicholas did was nod. "Go on, hold your niece." He encouraged. "You won't hurt her. She's made of some pretty tough stuff. We all are."

Slowly, Deja held out her arms, copying the position Lyra's were in. The woman gently set the baby in her arms, and she was surprised at the weight. Children seemed so small and fragile, but Emersyn was heavier than she would have thought. And she didn't start crying in her presence either, which was a step up from other children she'd interacted with in the past. Not that she really wanted to dwell on that, what with Hydra's cruel ways.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a giggle. Startled, she looked down to the child in her arms, who was staring up at her with a wide smile, waving her hands around. "Hi hi!" The child giggled again.

"Hello." Deja said softly. "You're a pretty little girl, aren't you?" Emersyn just giggled again, then started squirming in her arms.

Deja looked to Lyra and Nicholas for support, and Lyra just laughed, before speaking. "Set her gently on the floor. She's got a lot of energy now that she's not burning up anymore." She did just that, and the child began crawling along the floor and investigating anything that looked interesting. The rug, the edge of the couch, her mother's pants leg.

Lyra moved to take a seat beside her on the couch, while her brother seated himself on the floor with his daughter, who crawled right over to him. Lyra smiled down at the two.

"You guys seem happy together." Deja said softly. Lyra turned to her, smiling.

"We are. Nic and I have been close for a long time, and while we were never sure if we would be allowed to be together, every moment we have had has been amazing, and Emersyn is the best thing to have ever happened to us." She responded.

"Why wouldn't you have been able to be together?" Deja asked curiously.

Lyra's smile turned wistful. "The House Shay is not a very powerful one, even if we are one of the first houses. The House Peres on the other hand, while newblood, holds a lot more power than us. Our small territory has always led us to make and keep as many alliances as we can, and I knew from a young age that I and my sisters would be married into any house we could get an alliance with. My brother had a little more choice, but only because, as the eldest, he is the heir to our home and had to follow our longstanding tradition of marrying a commoner of our lands. Keeps our people happy and prevents any civil unrest that could pose us a serious threat due to our size." She shook her head. "I was very lucky that Duke Peres has more than just blood alliances to bargain with, and that he found ties with our small territory to be useful enough to let Nicholas marry me. We'd been courting in secret, savoring what time we had, but being able to court without worry of others was something so surreal, I can never thank your father enough for this happiness he granted us."

"I'm glad it turned out well for you." Deja offered, and Lyra smiled.

"Come on. I'll give you a tour of the house while these two play." Lyra stood, gesturing Deja to follow. They stepped past Nicholas, who was playing peek-a-boo, and Emersyn, who was screeching with giggles and laughing at her father.

* * *

This planet was so alike Earth, yet so different. Part of the difference came from growing up among Hydra and not some kind of palace, of course, but some of the similarities were uncanny for a world so far away. Like the day - it wasn't quite twenty four hours, more like twenty two, but then the week was actually nine days long. Tech, or the lack of it, was similar to earth, with running water and aqueducts and all of the architectural advances. For lighting, there were tennis ball sized orbs of glass, filled with what she was told was called solufire, which could be dimmed and brightened with touch.

She also had a lot more freedom over the next week and a half she spent there, something _very _different from her life on earth under Hydra's thumb. She spent most of that time with her brother and his family, enjoying the chance to reacquaint with her 'professor' and getting to know him and Lyra better.

* * *

**So, yeah. We'll get into some more action next chapter, and hopefully that will help pick up the pace of my writing and getting chapters out. I also went through and edited some previous chapters, nothing too serious, mostly just a couple instances of word choice and grammar. Keep an eye out on my tumblr, writing-desks-raven, where I'll try to post news and when I think I'll be able to update and such.**


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